Wofford shooting for SoCon tourney title, NCAA bid

After a couple of preseason exhibitions and four regular-season games, the Wofford men's soccer team still hadn't recorded a victory.Doubters began to assemble.But at 1 p.m. Sunday at Stone Stadium on the Furman University campus in Greenville, the Terriers can earn a berth in the NCAA tournament. They won the Southern Conference regular season, beat the Paladins on their own field Friday night in the league tournament semifinals and now face second-seeded Elon for the title.“We just need to keep doing what we're doing and stay focused,” Wofford head coach Ralph Polson said. “We're going to get opportunities to score goals, which we've done all year (ranking second in the country with 2.35 goals per game). We have to defend well. Through quality defending, we're going to be in good position moving forward. That's what we've done.”Wofford (11-6-1) started the season 0-3-1 and then caught fire. The Terriers won 10 of the next 12, going 5-1 in the Southern Conference. They clinched the regular-season championship at Furman on the same field where they won the semifinals rematch, 2-1, and where they will play for the tournament title in another rematch of a 2-1 overtime victory against then No. 16-ranked Elon.“A lot of people may have questioned whether winning a championship could be a goal of ours, but I don't think we've ever wavered from that,” Polson said. “Originally, it was a conference championship in the regular season. We've accomplished the first part. With the second part comes a bid to the NCAA tournament, which is another goal.”Wofford won the regular season and tournament championship game, also against Elon, in 2009, Polson's second season as head coach. The Terriers lost at UC Santa Barbara, 1-0, in their first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament.“The two teams are very different,” Polson said. “That team in 2009 just kind of came together at the right time and clicked. I don't want to take anything away from that team or undersell the 2013 team, but there is a lot of individual talent on this year's team.”Connor Davis, picked as first-team All-Southern Conference, has led the Terriers this season with 11 goals and five assists, shooting 41 percent. The sophomore midfielder, moved from defender, sent Wofford into the tournament championship game on a goal from 16 yards out with about 12 minutes remaining.“We've put ourselves in a good place,” Davis said. “We just need to take care of business now.”